


Voices and Ink

by thedesolationoffeels



Category: The Philosophers (2013)
Genre: Angst, F/M, One sided, this movie gave me many feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-19
Updated: 2014-02-19
Packaged: 2018-01-13 01:32:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1207858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedesolationoffeels/pseuds/thedesolationoffeels
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It is Petra's idea to write the letters.</p>
<p>The school year has ended and Petra has left leaving Eric alone with letters and ghosts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Voices and Ink

**Author's Note:**

> this movie made me feel things so i had to immediately write this  
> sorry if there are any mistakes

 It is Petra's idea to write the letters. A few days before her move to Ithaca had Eric receive a simple, neat letter stating that she is accepting their invitation to the college. She tells him not to worry for her since she and James are sharing their new apartment. On a separate slip of paper she writes down her new address. 

 It takes Eric nine days to answer back. First it is because he wants her to receive the letter already in her new home but then he realises it is just because he is a coward. Taking a pen and hunching over paper, he writes her words of good luck and encouragement for the future. His words are that of a teacher yet while he writes all he can see is a blonde haired girl with soft pink lips. 

 Her reply comes quick with a simple thank you. 

* * *

 Christmas comes and goes without much festive cheer. Eric spends the day drowning the past year with strong whiskey, a single received Christmas card lying on his desk. It is collectively from Petra and James and wishes him all the best for the new students. Neither say they miss him and there is no intimacy in the words. Eric writes a similar one back, also without any emotion or love. 

* * *

 Daily tasks turn into a robotic and hazy routine. Eric wakes up, brushes his teeth, skips breakfast and sits until noon in the little garden near his classroom. Some days he forgets to shave. 

 The sky is a soft azure as he sits on the stone steps. His fingers brush against his stubble and he smiles as he remembers Petra's words spoken long ago. 

_I don't like your beard. It makes kissing you hard._

 Well, now it made no difference. There was no more girl and no more kisses. 

 He runs his hands through his hair and thinks about the pistol lying in his desk. 

* * *

 Most of the day he spends in his office, mainly in silence and occasionally with work. The new school year was about to start and he will be getting 18 philosophy students this year. He begins writing down time tables and outlines, internally grateful for the distraction. 

 This year his teachings will be no different from the last. He will tell them the use of logic, force them to discard the strong reactions coming from emotions. He will make them think and realise how dark the world is and how they are the few who will be able to not only see that but to understand it too. 

 There are books and papers and post notes scattered around his desk as he finishes writing a term one outline. Next to his left hand is a letter from Petra, asking him politely about his ideas for the new students. She still hasn't said she missed him and he has given up hoping. 

 It takes him almost a week to finally write back. 

* * *

 The new class comes and Eric is ever so slightly disappointed. They are a smart collective, with a couple of students nearing the term genius. And yet there was a passion and uniqueness that the new class lacked from the last. 

 As their first lesson goes on, Eric realises he misses his old class. He misses Georgina's whiplash comebacks. He misses Chip's oddly intelligent thought process. Andy's creativity, Parker's kindness.

 And of course he misses that blonde haired girl with the soft voice that sat in the second row. Now there sits a perky, smiley girl named Micky. She is Jack's younger sister and has inherited the same charm he owns. Unlike her brother she is more rowdy, sending out comments that erupt the class into laughter and Eric with a migraine. It was her attention to details that stopped him from kicking her out. 

 Similarly to her brother though, her sexuality was as fluid as water and even before class he caught her twice pressing up against girls in corners, kissing eagerly. He said nothing about it and walked around but couldn't help but realise that he and Petra never had those sort of hungry kisses. Once or twice maybe, when they first realised their attraction, but once he began to know her closer the kisses were always slow, always measured. Petra always acted in the steady pace she needed to. 

 The rest of the students are what he expects. Confident, insightful and naive. One of the first things he does is ask each one what their definition of logic is. 

 Not a single one of the answers is as good as from the year before. He sighs and makes them read three chapters from the textbook. 

* * *

 Eric's next letter to Petra is long as he describes his new students. From Lia Zhang's addiction to Newton to Micky's boisterous personality. He describes what he plans to teach them and not once mentions the thought experiment from last year. He has been trying too desperately to forget it. 

 He sends the letter and awaits the reply that comes back uncharacteristically early. In only two weeks he finds a letter in his mail box. It only had four words inside. 

_James proposed to me._

 Eric's rage burns and he loses any patience to write back a latter. Instead he rummages around his entire apartment until he finds a crumpled piece of paper with Petra's mobile number written on it. 

 When Petra had first given it to him she said it was for emergencies only. Well, now it was an emergency. 

* * *

 'Hello, Eric.'

 'Petra! Did you accept?'

 'Yes, I did.'

 'Why?'

 'Because I love him.'

 'He isn't good enough for you.'

 'You spent all of last year undermining him. How can you possibly judge?'

 'You know I am right.'

 'I honestly don't.'

* * *

 For a month there are no letters and Eric buries himself in school work. His class is definitely getting smarter, even Micky is managing to control her mouth at times. There still hasn't been a single thought experiment even though a couple have asked him about it. Apparently, Jack was very impressed by the ordeal. 

 Instead, Eric gives them theory. He makes them read and write essays about the faults of human emotions over tactical thinking. He makes them say speeches on famous philosophers and what they got right and wrong. He makes them do anything that isn't the thought experiment. 

 And yet the box is still sitting on the side of his desk, a haunting memory of things he didn't expect. 

* * *

 Then a letter arrives and he can't make himself open it. To pour out his anger and frustration he forces even more complicated problems on his students. Two had already left due to stress and he was getting complaints even from the tougher students. 

 It takes him three bottles of whiskey and a week to read the letter. 

* * *

 The letter was describing the wedding of Petra and James. She had written it very passively, describing the restaurant and party and her dress and the others who attended. Only at the very end of the letter did she add anything that was from the heart. 

_I am happy, Eric._

 And those were the words that shattered whatever resistance he had left inside. 

* * *

 The next time he has class, he stops the students from taking out their books and some roll their eyes. 

 'Your jokes are not very funny,' Micky says sarcastically.

 'You will not be needing your books today,' Eric repeated firmly and stood up from behind his desk. Now the students were zipping up their bags, sharing sheepish and curious smiles amongst themselves. 'Today I want to do a...an experiment.'

 There is a silence as he picks up the intricately carved box and walks around his desk. 

 'I would like to do a thought experiment.'


End file.
